Group of British players to win Champions League with foreign clubs set to grow | OneFootball

Jude Bellingham will go head-to-head against Jadon Sancho and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens for Champions League glory at Wembley on June 1.

Sancho played a starring role in Borussia Dortmund’s semi-final success against Paris St Germain, with Bynoe-Gittens an unused substitute in both legs, while Bellingham helped Real Madrid to a dramatic 4-3 aggregate victory over Bayern Munich.

At least one of the English trio will join an elite group of British male players to have lifted the Champions League trophy while playing abroad.

Here, the PA news agency looks at the four men to have achieved this feat.

Paul Lambert

Scotland’s Paul Lambert starred for Borussia Dortmund in the 1997 final when he kept Juventus’ Zinedine Zidane quiet throughout the contest in Munich.

Karl-Heinz Riedle’s quickfire first-half double – the first was assisted by Lambert – put Dortmund in control.

Juve hit back through Alessandro Del Piero’s smart finish before academy graduate Lars Ricken delightfully lobbed Angelo Peruzzi from 25 yards with his first touch, just 16 seconds after coming on, to seal a stunning 3-1 victory.

It is Dortmund’s only Champions League success to date.

Steve McManaman

Steve McManaman was the first Englishman to feature in a Champions League final for a foreign club in 2000 and he scored during the 3-0 success against LaLiga rivals Valencia.

Fernando Morientes headed Los Blancos into a half-time lead at the Stade de France before McManaman doubled the advantage in brilliant fashion.

A long throw into the penalty area from Roberto Carlos was half-cleared to the former Liverpool man, who produced a wonderful first-time volley into the bottom corner from 18 yards. Raul wrapped up victory late on.

McManaman bagged his second European title with Real two years later at Hampden Park, where he made a second-half substitute appearance.

Raul opened the scoring against Bayer Leverkusen in the eighth minute, but they were pegged back six minutes later by defender Lucio.

But on the stroke of half-time, Zidane produced a memorable volley from the edge of the area with his weaker left foot to seal a brilliant win.

Owen Hargreaves

Owen Hargreaves played the full 120 minutes in Bayern’s midfield during the 2001 final against Valencia which was dominated by spot-kicks.

Gaizka Mendieta put Valencia ahead with his early penalty and Santiago Canizares saved Bayern midfielder Mehmet Scholl’s spot-kick later in the first half.

A third penalty was awarded in the 50th minute, which Stefan Effenberg converted to level, and the match finished 1-1 after extra time.

Paulo Sergio fired over with Bayern’s first attempt in the shoot-out before Oliver Kahn saved Zlatko Zahovic’s effort, while Patrik Andersson and Amedeo Carboni traded misses.

Thomas Linke slotted home Bayern’s seventh penalty, which proved to be the winner as Kahn kept out Mauricio Pellegrino to seal a 5-4 success.

Gareth Bale

Britain’s most decorated export won the competition five times during his career at Real Madrid.

In 2014, after Sergio Ramos had levelled in stoppage time following Diego Godin’s first-half opener for city rivals Atletico, Bale put Real in front with a 110th-minute header before further strikes from Marcelo and Cristiano Ronaldo sealed ‘La Decima’.

Two years later, the Madrid teams faced off once again and needed penalties to be separated following a 1-1 draw. Bale netted the third spot-kick as Real won the shoot-out.

He won his third Champions League title with a 4-1 success over Juventus in his hometown of Cardiff the following year.

A third successive triumph followed in 2018, when his stunning overhead kick put Los Blancos 2-1 up against Liverpool shortly after coming on as a substitute before his long-range effort clinched a 3-1 win in Kyiv.

The Welshman was an unused substitute in the 2022 final when Real beat Liverpool 1-0 in Paris.